This we do not know. Unlike most of Paul’s epistles, there are no
personal details. We are left to conjecture, as in the case of Jude and
1 John. The picture drawn in the epistle is that of Jewish Christians of
the poorer classes, with a small number of richer brethren (1:10),
struggling for life in the midst of a social and economic environment
that was utterly unsympathetic, not to say hostile. The process of
adjustment was difficult and perilous. There were perils to the
individual and to the church life, and James shows real mastery of the
situation that confronted the Jewish Christians in the middle of the
first century in the scattered regions where they were found. He writes
to them in a firm tone but with manifest understanding and sympathy.